Over the years I have found it extremely discouraging when searching for Mental Health Help Resources on the Internet and since I have decades of experience in working with computers, A Diploma in IT Systems Administration and a Degree in Multi Media, it makes it all the more apparent that the average person has even less chance of quickly and effortlessly locating any genuinely helpful resources on the internet for people living with the effects of Mental Illness.

Oh sure you will find site after site of government funded organisations but most of them appear to be designed for people working within the Mental Health sector. Many people have limited computers and internet skills but these sites don’t reflex that situation and are not user friendly. They are often confusing and written in an impersonal, clinical manner. The Site navigation is all over the place and it is often difficult to find what you are looking for. A final frustration is when you think you have located a helpful resource and you click on the link, email, etc and it doesn’t even work.

I find it frustrating when sites lump in support documentation for people with Mental Illness with support documentation developed for people working within the Mental Health sector. When I stumble onto posts teaching workers how to deal with my kind, the Mentally Ill, it can be most upsetting, you would be surprised at the way they talk about some of us. Even though I am aware that this type of information is necessary to help Mental Health Workers, it should be located on its own site.

Obviously there are some good sites out there, which have been designed specifically for people with mental illness and/or other more specific disorders. I recommend that when you are searching for help about your Mental Health, be specific, rather then doing a search for Mental Health Help Australia, name your condition if you can, for example, if you have Depression, include the word depression in your search.

We are living in a world where most people have access to the internet and many people who experience the isolation associated to their mental illness, will often turn to the Internet as a source of release or companionship. I find using computers and the Internet a great way to distance myself from my troubled mind, but searching online for help can quickly become extremely distressing as you become more lost on the way.

Sites I would recommend:
http://www.headspace.org.au/ – Helping young people with Mental Health Issues
http://www.beyondblue.org.au/ – Helping people with Depression
http://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome – Helping people with Depression
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/index.cfm – Helping people with Depression

The following was sourced from an Australian mental Health Site, sorry but I don’t have the address.

1. Because you don’t want your perpetrator to win.
2. Because you deserve to live.
3. Because your life is valuable and worth saving; your life has meaning and importance even if I cannot see it right now.
4. Because the abuse was not your fault.
5. Because you owe it to myself to give healing a try.
6. Because if you die today you will never again feel love for another human being.
7. Because if you die today you will never again see sunlight pouring through the trees, or a flower open, or a bird take flight, or the kindness and compassion in another’s eyes.
8. Because you have already won. You have shown that you have the resilience, courage and stubborn will to survive until now and no-one can take that away from you.
9. Because if you win this battle now you have beaten those who hurt you as an innocent child.
10. Because your are reading this and have read this far, there is a small part of you that wants to survive and recognises that you are precious and special and deserve to live.

Hang in there - Garfield Style - from http://www.freewebs.com

from: The Quote Garden

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~Japanese Proverb

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. ~Ivy Baker Priest

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement – and we will make the goal. ~Jerome Fleishman

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~Edmund Hillary

I exist in a self imposed purgatory. Tormented by the past, I recoil with trepidation and dread at the potential of another day. My soul is crumbling like a sandcastle caught in the tide. Help me, hear me, reflect on my pain, so you might glimpse the fading image of the woman I was. You may even see my hopeless longing to find a way back to humanity.

It is so easy to play down, trivialise, underestimate and/or make light of depression and quite often this is unintentionally. Just as words can not cure a broken leg nor can they cure depression. I honestly feel that a compassionate ear or shoulder is more helpful than many words of advice. Sometimes, just having someone near by can make all the difference.  ….”Below is a list of some of the many quotes often said to a depressed person, quotes that should never be made as they don’t help and may even make the situation far worse.“

“Stop wallowing in self pity.”
“Believe me, I know how you feel.”
“It’s all in your head.”
“Cheer up!”

“Do you feel better now?”
“We all have a bad day now and then.”
“Everyone gets depressed sometimes!”
“Get a grip!”
“Get a job!”
“Get a life.”

“Get off your ass and just do it.”
Take a hot bath. That will make you feel better.”
“Go out and get some fresh air”
“Go out and have some fun”
“Happiness is a choice”
“I just want to help you.”

“You’re stronger than that.”
“It’s your own fault.”
“I think your depression is a way of punishing me.”
“Is it that time of the month?”
“Just pull yourself together”

“Snap out of it.”
“Just try a little harder!”
“Lighten up!”
“Maybe you should take some vitamins.”
“No one ever said life was fair.”
“Nobody is responsible for your depression.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”
“Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone.”

“Quit whining. Go out and do something and you won’t have time to feel sorry for yourself.”
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
“The only one you’re hurting is yourself.”
“There is always somebody worse off than you.”

“Things aren’t that bad”
“Try not being so depressed.”
“We all have our cross to bear.”
“What are you worried about?”

“What do you have to be depressed about”.
“What’s your problem?”
“Why can’t you just be normal?”

“Why don’t you just grow up?”
“Why don’t you smile more?”
“You brought it on yourself”

“You can do anything you want if you just set your mind to it.”
“You have a choice about having depression.”
“You have no reason to feel this way.”

“You have so many things to be thankful for, why are you depressed!”
“You need a: boy/girl-friend – hobby – to get out more.”
“You should dress nicer.”
“You should take better care of yourself. “
“Fix up your hair.”

“You should get off all those pills.”
“You think you have problems.”
“Just hang in there, it will pass.”
“Your problems aren’t that bad.”

“You’re always feeling sorry for yourself.”
“You’re making me depressed.”
“You’re so selfish!”
“It really isn’t that bad.”
“You’re just looking for attention.”
“Get rid of those pills, then you’ll feel better.”